ISS astronaut Thomas Pesquet recently posted a video tour of the space station--all 25 minutes of it--and it's putting a lot of things into perspective.
According to Digital Trends, the video tour of the ISS is highlighting just how big the entire station really is. In it, Pesquet takes viewers to some rarely seen parts of the station, including the actual CrewDragon spacecraft that's going to bring him and two other astronauts back home to Earth soon.
You can watch the video on YouTube right now. Pesquet delivers the tour in his native French, but you can watch it with English subtitles.
In the video, Pesquet visits several of the sleeping areas for astronauts, as well as their working areas.
He reveals that in the area where the Russian cosmonauts sleep, there's a window out into space; further remarking that he wonders how the cosmonauts manage to sleep with the sunlight blaring through the glass.
One can definitely see how an astronaut lives on the ISS--there's a lot of equipment around which somehow makes it look cramped. But the reality is that the living and working areas of the space station are bigger than a typical six-bedroom home.
For perspective's sake, a six-bedroom house, according to HomeStratosphere, would normally have a floor area of around 7,000 square meters if it doesn't have a second floor.
That's only talking about the living and working quarters, and not the entire station itself.
Pesquet also included visits to several areas where he showed off the incredible views of space that ISS astronauts see daily. One of the most notable destinations is the observation cupola, where the station offers stunning 360-degree views of the Earth.
Read also: ISS Food Is Not All Bland, Says French Astronaut; But How Exactly Is Food Packed For Outer Space?
Just How Big Is The ISS Really?
Folks tend to underestimate just how big the International Space Station really is, perhaps because of how cramped it looks inside. But that couldn't be further from the truth.
Official NASA specs state that the station is 356 feet long from end to end. It's around a yard short of a typical American football field with the end zones included.
This makes the ISS the largest man-made object ever in space, according to the Scientific American. However, the future holds something even more exciting--and massive.
What Future Space Stations Might Look Like
The International Space Station is old. It's been up there since 1998, and the presence of numerous problems on the station indicate that it's inching ever closer to retirement.
So, what will the next space stations look like roughly ten years from now?
Popular Mechanics writes that by 2025 to 2030 (the projected retirement year for the ISS), space stations will likely be big enough to accommodate off-world manufacturing facilities, or perhaps even a so-called "orbital hotel" intended for paying tourists.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
